The East Sea not only influences the weather of the neighboring nations with its warm and cold currents, but also plays many roles in their fishing industries.

Because of its deep water, in the old days when fishing skills were poor, the sea had little utility value as a fishing ground. However, in these days, it is the central fishing area in one of the four world's biggest fishing banks, the north Pacific Ocean's west fishing bank. It is also strategically important.

In terms of its main fishes, there are an abundant amount of cold current fishes, such as a squid, mackerel pike, scombroid, and sardine, as well as cold current fishes, such as a walleye pollack and codfish. Most of the warm current fishes go up north to the sea close by the North Korean coast from spring to summer and make a circular trip and go southward in autumn. Among these fishes, a squid is the largest catch in the East Sea. It is particularly caught around the Ullung Island and Mookho areas from June to September, and it takes best during July and August; it goes southward to Pusan in mid-September.

A mackerel pike is mostly caught on its way up from March to July. A sardine was once caught in large amount around the Young-il Bay; the number of sardines has reduced dramatically after the World War II, but is gradually increasing lately.

A walleye pollack is a representative warm current fish with the Wonsan Bay as its main fishery; it is caught best during its spawning season from November to December, and hatches and grows up in the shores of the Kangwon Province. A codfish is mostly caught at the shores of the South Kyungsang Province.

The dragnet fishery of the East Sea is rather limited because of the narrow continental shelf. A walleye pollack, codfish, sandfish, flounder, crab, shrimp, flatfish and the like are caught. Other than those, there are plenty of shellfish, such as an abalone, white clams and plenty of seaweeds, such as an agar brown seaweed and sea tangle. Recently, in view of the undersea investigation findings, the East Sea attracts public attention as a promising field for rich mineral resources, such as coal oil, natural gas and the like.